


Tearing Wires from Our Head (or back, close enough)

by sbuggbot



Series: Voltbot Armilly [4]
Category: SteamWorld Quest (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Major Character Injury, Post-Game, Self-Inflicted Injury, Voltbot Armilly AU, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-07 08:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19205869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbuggbot/pseuds/sbuggbot
Summary: Our heroes explore a strange and unfamiliar area. But it seems to be striking a chord with one of the heroes....Takes place sometime after the events of Quest.





	Tearing Wires from Our Head (or back, close enough)

**Author's Note:**

> Ayyy, time for another Voltbot Armilly fic! This is a mental image I've had since a little bit before the game came out; I've just fleshed it out so all of the main heroes are involved in it. (Also so it isn't just a single mental image.)
> 
> If you follow my Tumblr the situation might seem similar, but it probably diverges a bit from what The Anon Friend (aka Wingheart) cooked up for later events.

Coming here was a mistake. Armilly should have taken the fact that she could understand the strange glyphs on the sign when nobody else could as a bad sign. Or the eerie sense of familiarity she kept getting as they explored. (Copernica called it deja vu?)

Ever since they’d explored deeper into the strange area, a strange voice kept clawing at the back of her mind. The voice felt familiar for some reason but Armilly couldn’t place it. It wasn’t her normal bizarre impulses to do things like stick things in her mouth, however. The voice was telling her, commanding her, to attack her friends in increasingly detailed and disturbing ways. At first, she could just ignore it and carry on with her life, but the voice kept getting louder. She groaned and tugged on her hood.

As the voices got louder Armilly became quieter, to the point that her friends were starting to take notice. She was lagging behind the party, too. When asked about it, she just shook her head and clawed at her temples. Her mind was too tied up to answer her friends.

Soon the voice was joined with strange feelings in her arms that made them twitch as if the voice was trying to physically bend her to their will. Then the tingles spread throughout her body and the motions became more than twitches. It took everything Armilly had to stop the tingles from using her body as a puppet.

Armilly stopped walking. Noticing that her footsteps had ceased, Orik turned. “Armilly? Are you okay?”

It happened in a matter of seconds. Armilly dropped her sword. Then she kicked it away from her. While trying to crouch down (presumably to retrieve it) she reached under her armor and began clawing under her shoulders. Each motion was stiff and clumsy like she was fighting an outside force to move the way she wanted to. Her hand yanked away...some part that looked important and she collapsed to the ground, motionless.

Copernica screamed and thought she was going to faint. Galleo actually _did_ faint, making Benji start screeching. Thayne hid his face in Tarah’s hood as she stared ahead, too shocked to even curse. Orik’s mind seemingly launched off to another dimension, unable to process the situation.

Armilly had literally trapped herself in her own body, but she didn’t really care now. The voice was still there but it couldn’t make her hurt her friends. That was enough of a solution for her.

Tarah was the first one to talk after that. “What the scrap was that about?!” Thayne cautiously peeked out from the crook of his sister’s neck.

“Um.” Orik began, fading back in from his daze. He fumbled for the snout of a mask that was not on his face. “Uh, it seems that she couldn’t take it anymore. Whatever was bothering her, I mean.”

Galleo started to come to after being pecked by Benji repeatedly. He looked around, trying to get his bearings, and froze as soon as he saw Armilly. His memory flooded back to him and he swore under his breath.

Hugging his dagger close for comfort, Thayne let go of his sister and crept over to prod at Armilly. She didn’t move or show any outward signs of reacting. He noticed that her body was still thrumming, however. “She’s still alive,” he whispered.

“Well let’s keep her that way then,” Tarah said.

“Agreed, we should try to find some safe spot to fix her. I don't know if we have much time or not.”

“Um, I saw a small cave a little way back,” Thayne said. “It looked pretty safe to me.”

Galleo scooped Armilly off the ground and carefully settled her body against his so it wouldn't hurt her further. “Lead the way, then, Thayne. (Oh, and can you grab those parts she dropped?)”

Thayne nodded and stowed the bits in his pocket. Using his dagger to point where he was going, he began to retrace his steps.

Galleo, Tarah, and Orik began to follow, but Orik stopped after a moment. “Hold on. Copernica, are you coming with us?” he asked, turning back towards her. “--oh dear.”

She was stiff as a statue; she hadn’t moved one bit since Armilly had ripped her back up. After a couple more fruitless tries to get her attention, Orik went over and gently pressed on her shoulder to guide her forward. She grunted and more or less stumbled along in a disassociated fog. Copernica didn’t even notice that she had left her book on the ground behind her, so Tarah took it before hurrying back to her brother's side.

The alcove proved to be clear aside from a few pieces of furniture. “It isn't much,” Galleo said, “but it'll have to do.” He laid Armilly belly-down on the work table.

Orik guided Copernica to a chair and had her sit down. She was still totally out of it and in shock. “...every girl I love dies in front of me…” Copernica mumbled under her breath.

A concerned frown crossed Orik's face as he began to grasp what was going on in Copernica's mind. He put a hand on her back. “Hey, she isn't dead, keep that in mind.”

“Death's gonna have to fight me for her,” Galleo said, laying out his tools. Thayne gave him the parts he had picked up earlier before deciding to cling onto Orik’s leg.

Galleo did his best to undo Armilly's armor without jostling her around too much and pushed her hooded undershirt out of the way. She had several deep claw marks on her back; it was a wonder that she had done that much damage to her back with just her hands. The plating would definitely need to be replaced but the fact that it was under her armor made it slightly less urgent.

“I'm pretty sure this is her main control unit, she clawed the hell outta it.”

“So…?” Tarah began, not understanding what Galleo was saying.

“So she can't move; this part sends signals from her brain to the rest of her body to tell her to move.” Galleo scratched his head. “It isn't standard. Don’t know any other bots that’re set up like this.”

“How's she still alive, then? If she isn't moving then how's her pump still going?”

“She has the secondary pump-and-furnace control system everyone else has, that goes on its own.” He sighed and stepped away. “I gotta think about how to fix her main unit...”

Blankly, Copernica scooted her chair closer to Armilly and began holding her hand. There was a slight change in her demeanor; rather than staring ahead she looked at Armilly (or in her direction at least).

The voice had been screaming at Armilly the entire time; the fact that she literally could not move her body did not deter it. Its echoes rattled and bounced around in her head in an endless cacophony. The only relief she got was in the form of Copernica holding her hand, so she tried her hardest to focus on that.

Copernica felt a slight pressure on her hand, one that made her eyes go wide. “Hey!” she called to the others. “Look at this…” She raised the hand that was holding Armilly's and spread her fingers out. Armilly was holding her hand under her own power.

“Incredible,” Orik said. “Perhaps she's trying to reach out to us?”

Galleo shrugged. “Or maybe it was just some reflex that happened on its own.” There was a pause where everyone glared at Galleo. Tact wasn’t one of his strong suits. “What? Sorry to bring the mood down.”

“You're an endless source of optimism, Frogger,” Tarah deadpanned. Orik made a tired objection to Tarah's attitude but didn't put much force behind it given the situation.

Galleo just shot her a look and turned back to Armilly, now having an idea on how to reconnect things. He was quietly working away when Armilly suddenly rasped, “No!”

“Gah!” Galleo jumped a foot backward and about three feet into the air at the sound of her voice. Evidently, her voicebox was connected again. “No what?” he asked.

“No fixing...'m dangerous….”

“What are you going on about, you aren't dangerous.”

“Th’ voice...it isn't stopping…” Armilly whimpered. It had only quieted slightly now that Armilly was talking to her friends. “Wants me to hurt you guys…can't control…I hate it!”

Copernica scooted closer to Armilly's head and began stroking her hair. “Oh, Milly…” she murmured sadly.

“We will get to the bottom of this,” Orik said, determined. Even if Armilly couldn't explain it herself. “Perhaps it's a side effect of your unique construction, but we are not leaving you here helpless.”

Galleo went back to looking over Armilly's mauled back. “Wait, why is this piece so hot?” It wasn't part of her main unit but it was close to it. While prodding at it, Galleo accidentally shorted the part out. “Oops.” Everyone froze.

Armilly felt a sharp pinch, but it was followed with the most glorious silence in her head. The voice had stopped. It was such a relief that she began crying on the spot and sobbing “thank you”s while Copernica tried her best to shoosh her and calm her down.

“Wait, what did I do?” Galleo asked, worried. “I thought I just broke something.”

“You-you made the voice s-stop,” Armilly choked out. She didn't quite know how to explain it so her friends understood, but Galleo had just broken the part that the voice--Vectron, she realized now--had used to get inside her head. “It's gone now.” She gave Galleo the go-ahead to keep fixing her.

“Was this incident connected to your different make-up?” Orik asked, once again fumbling for a mask that was not there.

“Y-yeah,” she replied. “I don't remember it, but…I think I was built here. I think this place wanted me back…”

“Why'd they let you out in the first place, then?” Tarah asked.

“Hell if I know.” Armilly had enough coordination to rub her eyes again, so she just that and then adjusted her hood. “I don't really remember anything about being here. Dunno if I _want_ to.”

“Maybe we should just go,” Thayne said. “This place doesn’t feel right.”

Tarah shifted her hold on her axe and shifted on her feet. “Yeah, this place gives me the creeps too,” she said after a moment. “And we grew up near the Necronomicog.”

After a couple more murmurs of agreement, the party set off to find their way back out of Vectron. Armilly didn’t quite have full feeling in her limbs yet, so she leaned on Galleo for support as they walked. What a day...and they weren’t even out yet.

Copernica patted her sides. "Wait. Where's my spellbook?"

"Gollee, Copernica, I dunno..." Tarah said with a smirk.

**Author's Note:**

> Tarah's going to give Copernica her spellbook back...eventually. There's some spells she can cast without her book, that'll probably help.
> 
> Come yell at me on my Tumblr: [sbuggbot.tumblr.com](sbuggbot.tumblr.com)


End file.
